The Wonder Years - The Greatest Generation (2013)

The Wonder Years have always been a powerhouse band in the pop punk scene and “The Greatest Generation” doesn't change anything about that.

Let’s start off with something, The Wonder Years are one of my favorite bands, but in no way is this review going to be biased at all (even though you may think so).

The Wonder Years never seem to fail at bringing a powerful opening track to an album. “There, There” fits perfectly in with “My Last Semester” and “Came Out Swinging”. It starts off very slow and then explodes with Soupy yelling “I’m sorry I don’t laugh at the right times, is this what it feels like?” This song was the perfect way to open this record. It’s full of emotion and angst.

The second track “Passing Through a Screen Door”, which is the lead single off of the record, is a song about not feeling good enough and feeling like you’ve screwed up your life. Soupy belts out lyrics such as “What they say about stability, it scares me sometimes the emptiness I see in my eyes.” This song definitely will hit home to a lot of kids. It’s of course another extremely powerful song.

Three tracks in and we’re at the song that I believer could be my favorite, “We Could Die Like This”. This is probably one of the most catchiest songs that The Wonder Years have ever put out. This song feels like it’s yet another shout out to their hometown in Pennsylvania, which The Wonder Years have clearly been known to do. 

Track four is the second single off of the record, “Dismantling Summer”. This track is a very slow paced song compared to the other songs so far. It also has a very 90’s pop-punk feel to it. It’s clearly about someone that someone in the band was very close to while growing up. “We’re all waiting for good news, hoping you can come home soon” definitely helps the story out. The second verse gets me a lot. It’s definitely a very feelsy song.

Third single off the album “The Bastards, The Vultures, The Wolves” starts off real fast with Soupy screaming “I’m angry like I’m 18 again, and the walls are closing in.” Then slows down around the chorus where Matt (guitarist/back up vocals) and Soupy trade off vocals. This song also references “Came Out Swinging” from their previous release with the lyric “And yeah I came out swinging, but I’m still walking out with two black eyes and a split lip” 

The sixth track “The Devil In My Bloodstream” is definitely one of the slowest tracks on the album. It’s definitely packed with emotion and feels. The song eventually builds up to Soupy saying “I’ve got the same blood coursing through my veins, and it’ll come for me eventually”. Then yelling out “I bet I’d be a fucking coward”.

“Teenage Parents”, the seventh track on the album, is a super fast one. It’s another personal story to Soupy it seems. It recalls a few events in his life from the 90’s. In the chorus Soupy belts out “You always said it would get better”. The lyrics make it seem as if this song is about his mother, but I can’t really tell.

We’re entering the second half of the album with track eight, “Chaser”. Another one that starts off fast and slows down quite a bit. The chorus is another catchy one, “I’m a chaser, but I found stronger winds. If you believer her, there’s no going home again.” The song has a great slowed down break and just powers into another chorus.

Track nine is another fast one. “An American Religion(FSF)” is probably one of the best songs on the record. Soupy screams out “Truman will always be remembered for dropping the bomb, I’ll always be remembered for my fuck ups.” This is definitely one of the songs that hits home a lot. Which I’m sure it does for quite a few people.

Track ten is probably my favorite off the album. “A Raindance in Traffic” starts off extremely fast. This chorus has Matt starting it off singing “The fighter in me must’ve died a long time ago. I must’ve been watching his ghost.” This song is just extremely catchy. We also catch Soupy pulling a Kyle Soto (guitarist/vocalist of Seahaven) when he trembles his words while saying “And I used to have such steady hands, but now I can’t keep them from shaking.”

Track eleven is the acoustic track off the record, “Madelyn”. This song, unlike the other acoustic tracks they do, sort of bores me. It’s very emotional lyrics wise, but the instrumentals are the same all the way through the song. It’s a great track, but it didn’t catch my attention really.

“Cul-de-sac”, track twelve, is another one of my favorites. I can’t really describe what I like about it so much. It’s just an all around great song. I’m not spoiling anything about this track here.

The final track, “I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral”, is the longest Wonder Years track yet at a whopping seven minutes and thirty five seconds. It’s probably one of the best songs they’ve written. The entire song, for the most part, is a medly of the album. It has so many great lyrics pulled from the other songs on the records. 

Like I said, you probably think this review is completely biased but it’s not. This album is complete perfection. This band deserves everything they’re getting right now. They’ve worked so hard for all of it. 

10/10

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Release Date: May 14th, 2013

Record Label: Hopeless Records

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The Brooklyn Enigma - Brave Words (2013)

The Brooklyn Enigma is a band that formed in the late days of 2012 and have already written, recorded, and preparing to release their debut EP, "Brave Words." Their New Years Resolution must have been to create some catchy, melodic, dangerous hardcore music, because that's exactly what they've done.  "Brave Words"   is a five song (excluding the :30 second, creepy, ominous, eerie introduction) that takes on a sound that I can best associate with The Ghost Inside or Your Memorial, if I had to choose.  Rough vocals throughout, melodic leads on guitar, and the occasional breakdown sprinkled throughout the EP make up the recipe that "Brave Words" is made of.  This EP doesn't re-invent the wheel by any means, but not every band has to do that in order for a release to be deemed as quality.  Anything that one can dance to, sing to, break in-animate objects to, is quality work in my book.

This album is full of energy.  Every single song is slammed with down-tune riffing on guitar held together by an up-tempo assault on the drums.  As far as instrumental sound goes, there is a fair amount of consistency throughout all of songs.  The Brooklyn Enigma created a formula for the sound they wanted and stuck to it.  Lyrical content has proven to be a strong-point for these young gents.  Many instances, especially in "Cujo," are many call-out lyrics right before an earth shattering breakdown that would fit perfectly on a t-shirt (hint hint).  "I can smell the fear in you" - "Cujo."  Absolutely incredible. There are no musical slouches in The Brooklyn Enigma.  The vocals bring mind-numbing power to the table while the guitars and bass perfectly follow the drums like ducklings following their mother when learning how to swim. "LBA," the EP's final track, is probably the heaviest on the album.  With the "BLEGH," in the opening 30 seconds, I knew I was sold on the remainder of the song and I surely wasn't disappointed.  The breakdowns are mean, the vocals are aggressive, and the guitar work is nothing short of juicy.  This song is the complete package for an excellent debut EP.  

I was also baffled at the amazing quality of the recording for a band just beginning its tenure in the metal world.  The production leaves absolutely nothing behind.  Every instrument can be heard clearly and the overall sound isn't too slick or damp.  For a debut EP that was created in a little over 4 months,  this is a solid piece of work and something I'd definitely recommend giving a listen to.

8/10

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Record Label: Unsigned
Release Date: TBA

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The Story So Far - What You Don't See (2013)

The thing I love about music is that it's all up to the person listening to it to decide whether or not they like it. Some people may love every second of an album that comes out, while someone else may literally hate the album and never listen to it again. It's weird to think that it happens, but it's kind of neat. To each his own I guess? That brings me to talk about the sophomore album from Walnut Creek pop punk kings The Story So Far. The album is titled, What You Don't See, and it's either a hit or miss with people. From what I have seen by talking to others and seeing their opinions of the album, they either love it so much, or hate it. I really haven't found any middle ground people. But that's fine. My opinion on the album? I absolutely love it. I think it's perfect. It's such a step up in every aspect from Under Soil And Dirt. Ill get deeper into that in my review though.

The album kicks off with Things I Can't Change. It starts off sounding a lot like USAD. That's one thing I noticed about the album. It starts off sounding a lot like USAD but then slowly gets different. This first track seems like it could be put on their previous release. That's not a bad thing either. You don't want to completely throw off your fan base by starting off an album with something that sounds completely different. The next two tracks, Stifled and Small Talk, start to bring about the change in The Story So Far's sound. It's not too noticeable at this point, but there's something there. And it sounds fantastic. The guitars especially in Small Talk sound so good. That's one thing to notice about the new sound. Some of the guitar work in this album sounds so much better than USAD. Not to say USAD didn't have fantastic guitar work, it's just that it sounds so much more matured on this album. 

Playing The Victim really starts to show off the matured lyrics of this album too. You can hear it in previous songs, but it starts to show even more in this song. That another thing that I absolutely loved about this album. The lyrics and how matured they were from what was on USAD. A lot of people bitched about the lyrics on the previous album for really stupid reasons. Apparently they didn't realize that angst filled teenagers wrote them. Anyways, the band has grown up now. It has been a few years, so naturally the lyrics are better. 

Right Here is the first single the band released from this album. It's a great song, and I think that it really showcases a good bridge between USAD and the new album. The next track, Empty Space, is hands down, my favorite from the album. Everything about this song is perfect. The riffs, the drumming, the lyrics...it's just everything I want from a song. It's so damn catchy too. The part where Parker starts singing (I know it seems like I'm always upset) leads into such a perfect moment. Moments like that are what I love about The Story So Far. They fill their albums with killer moments like that.

The Glass is also one of my favorites from the album. It was the second song the band released from the album before the release, and I think it shows their maturity very well. Another thing about this song is that I really think it shows off how much better Parker's voice sounds. On this whole album, it sounds so much stronger than it did on USAD. It's a great thing that the band not only matured everything about their sound, but also Parker matured his voice. All Wrong, Bad Luck, and Face Value all show off the new sound The Story So Far has achieved. On top of the production and the matured instrumentals on all of these songs, they keep up the pace. A lot of times, the pace of the album will start slowing down towards the end. Or there will be tracks here and there that seem out of place. That is definitely not the case for this album. The pace keeps up, and doesn't let go until the final track, Framework, ends. The final track is a great closer too. The drums sound absolutely great to me on this track. Super fast paced, but somewhat technical too.

I think I can speak for everyone when I say that there were very, very high expectations for this album after what the band did with Under Soil And Dirt. To some, this album is going to disappoint because it isn't USAD 2.0. But the thing is, a band should never release an album that's just a rehashing of their previous material. They should always grow with their sound and mature it. That is exactly what The Story So Far did on this release. They matured everything about their sound. They stepped up production immensely, and just overall stepped up everything about themselves. The band really proved themselves with the release of Under Soil And Dirt and with the release of What You Don't See, they proved themselves to be a band that is worthy of staying at the top of their genre. 

10/10

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Release Date: March 26th, 2013

Record Label: Pure Noise Records

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Northlane - Singularity (2013)

Northlane has proved in the past year and a half to be one of the most hardworking, dedicated, energetic, and up-and-coming bands this planet has ever seen.  Over the past year since the release of their debut, "Discoveries," Northlane has embarked on multi-continental tours adding up to over 200 shows,  and also managed to not only write another full-length album, but also record it and release it.  "Singularity,"  Northlane's sophomore album, mainly discusses the joys of life through the lyrics as opposed to the negative outlook that many metal bands create with their music in present times.  Ironically, even though the lyrics create a positive aura to the record, the instrumental work takes your breath away with every riff of every song.  Northlane once again proves that they are among the elite with "Singularity."  The musicianship and variety on this record is unmatched by any other band and sets the bar extremely high for anyone who attempts to take their throne as kings of the metal world.  These metal-maticians have really outdone themselves this time.

Fans have received small servings of the feast that is "Singularity" periodically with songs such as "Quantum Flux," "World Eater," and "Scarab" being released early.  With the perfect combination of intense riffs reminiscent of August Burns Red blended with the aggressiveness and heaviness of Reflections and Auras,  Northlane creates the perfect concoction of everything that every single metal fan would enjoy in a full length album.  Encompassing elements of Ambient, Djent, metalcore, and hardcore into their music, Northlane keeps you guessing as to what will comes next.  Nothing on this album is predictable, and that's what makes it great.  Although there are breakdowns present in scattered amounts throughout "Singularity," they by no means are predictable nor do they overwhelm the listener.  "Singularity" gives off the perfect combination of melody and brutality.

Due to the instrumental perfection of this album,  I feel that many of the listeners will neglect to observe the vocal dominance of Adrian throughout this album.  "Quantum Flux" is a perfect example as the entire spectrum of vocals is given during this song all with untouchable power and energy.  The amount of energy given off by this album could power an entire third world country for a month.  "Singularity" is sure to satisfy your eardrums and destroy your car speakers.  This album is going to be what solidifies Northlane as legends , for good.  Pick up this album.  There is no excuse why you can't get your hands on this album.

11/10

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Release Date:  March 22, 2013
Record Label : UNFD

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Vanna - The Few And The Far Between (2013)

Vanna has always been a favorite band of mine and when I found out they were recording a new full length I could not have been more excited. They have progressed so much with every release they've put out and “The Few And The Far Between” doesn't stray from the progression. They've gone from a post-hardcore band in the “A New Hope” era, then straight into a metalcore band in the “The Honest Hearts/And They Came Baring Bones” era, now they've transformed into a melodic hardcore sound and it could not be more perfect.

The record starts off with the title track which is pretty much an intro for the record. Davey Muise screams “I've kept quiet for far too long” and “I’m sick and tired of the same old shit.” This song just progressively adds instruments and powerful lyrics. Davey chants “Stand up, stand proud, stand tall. I believe in you, if you believe in me.” Which continues on for the remainder track, and then there’s a smooth transition into the second track “The Lost Art Of Staying Alive” which is a short track at only one minute and forty six seconds. The track opens with an awesome guitar riff and Davey screaming “So it begins again” The instrumental work on this track is amazing, it’s so fast and tight.

Another smooth transition into the third track and first single off the album “Year Of The Rat” which is the first track on the album to have singing. Which are done by lead guitarist Joel Pastuszak. The combination of Davey and Joel is amazing, in my opinion they’re one of the most talented team of vocalists in this industry at the moment. The fourth track “I Said I’m Fine” is another fast one, right off the bat there’s extremely fast drums and guitar work. This track actually has a line of lyrics that stood out a lot to me throughout this whole album, “Black shoes. Black shirt. Black heart.” I don’t really understand why these lyrics stand out so much to me, but they just do. They were branded into my head after even the first listen. The end of the track is just a cluster of guitars and drums and all sorts of stuff and Davey screaming “We’re not going away, we refuse to die” numerous times.

Fifth track in and we hit “Casket Rhythm” and it’s another short one at two minutes and eleven seconds. Like the other shorter songs it’s not as fast instrumentally, it sort of has a little break in the middle of it. But after that break Davey begins screaming “I said I’d watch your words decay, I watched your mouth become a shallow grave. You’re deadweight.” And commence a breakdown. This track really shows of their melodic sound at the end, which again I feel is a perfect sound for them. The sixth track in really hit home to me, it’s titled “The Weekly Slap in the Face”. The reason this track hits so hard for me is that it’s about a father leaving his family behind with no remorse. This track also has another clean vocal part by Joel which sounds just as good as the others. About halfway through the song Davey screams, “You don’t call, you don’t talk, I’m beginning to think it’s my fault. Know what happens to people you use? They stop giving a fuck about you. No one to lead, no one to guide. Your mistakes will ruin my life. You’re not a man, I’ll tell you why, men don’t leave their families to die.” That line in general made this song my favorite off of this whole record.

The seventh track and second single off the album “Please Stay” is the slow song of the album. It has a lot of emotional power to it. There’s eerie backing vocals by some female and they are great. This track will remind you a lot of Bring Me The Horizon’s “Don’t Go” but way better. The eight track “A Thin Place” is another one I relate to a lot. Davey yells the opening line “Hey God it’s me again, where’ve you gone, where the fuck have you been?” This is another fast track, so much to where at one point I couldn’t really understand what was happening, but it was great.

The longest track on the album “The Dreamer/The Thief/The Relic” starts out with a slow melodic intro and gets right into the speediness of the rest of the album, then slows down again with Davey screaming line after line. Honestly this would have to be my least favorite track on the album, it didn't really stand out to me that much. This song does feature the only guest vocal on the album by the vocalist of Boston hardcore band Great American Ghost.

Into the last two tracks of the album, track ten, “When in Roam”, is another one that stood out to me. It opens with a nasty guitar riff and Davey screaming “Live free. Die free. I won’t be alone. Live free. Die free. My home is where I roam.” This track is another one that has a lot to do with personal issues of whomever is the main lyricist of Vanna. It’s also another short track at only two minutes and one second. The last track of the album “His Heels” starts off really melodic and slow with a group chant, and as soon as Davey chimes in it’s nothing but speed. One of the main lyrics that stood out to me in this song was “Will I ever love again, can I ever right this wrong?” which I’m feeling has strong emotional meaning to the lyricist. The outro of the track has Davey and Joel singing “But it’s okay, I've learned to love another.” And a mess of drums ensues and then the album is over.

All in all this record, in my opinion, is complete perfection. It is completely what I expected from them after their previous full length. Vanna has never been a band to disappoint for me, and I don’t see it happening anytime soon. They've got a lot to top when recording their follow up of this masterpiece. 

10/10

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Release date: 3/19/2013
Record label: Artery Recordings

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Firestarter - New Beginnings EP (2013)

In today’s music industry bands come and go faster than most people know, bands break up and members form other bands or continue on to other endeavors. The band I’m reviewing today is a band formed because of a break up. Firestarter formed after the break up of Connecticut pop punk kings Casting Call in 2012 and are set to release their debut EP this month.

The EP starts off with the intro song “New Beginnings”. Firestarter’s lead vocalist and guitarist Matthew LaPerche yells out the opening line “This is just a new beginning, where everything I've been has left me. I took the time to write this down, but why don’t you just hear me out?” This is a great introduction to the new band and direction that is Firestarter. The end of “New Beginnings” transitions extremely fast into the second track “49 Stow”. This song is a fast one and definitely embodies the pop punk spirit. It’s fast, catchy, and filled with angst. The drum work by drummer Matt Bliss on this song is truly incredible, it’s flawless.

In the middle of the record we get to my favorite song “Myrtle Ave”. This song reminds me of older The Story So Far, more specifically the song “Spark Fires” off their While You Were Sleeping EP. This song is extremely similar to the first two, fast and angsty. Matthew screams out in the chorus “So this is me with my heart out on my sleeve for you to see.” and sings about not agreeing with people and leaving things behind. The fourth track on the EP “Worth My Time” starts off with some crucial gang vocals and a powerful first verse. Again there’s some flawless drumming being performed on this track. The chorus reveals that this song is either about a best friend or a girl or someone that clearly meant a lot to the person this story is about.

We've reached the last song on this 5 track EP, “Three Years”. This track starts off very slow and just and explosion of guitars and drums come out of nowhere. This is another song that tells a great story about a few relationship problems with friends, family, and girls. As I said before this song is a slow one in the beginning and then explodes with instrumentals, but the opposite happens midway through the track and there’s a break with slowed down instrumentals. This song is a great way to end this EP.

If you dig bands like Major League, Real Friends, Handguns, or any bands similar to them you’ll definitely love Firestarter. This EP is a banger from start to finish. Definitely pick it up when it is released and check them out on tour.

9/10

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Release Date: 3/12/2013

Record Label: Unsigned

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Hundredth - Revolt EP (2013)

Hundredth has always been a smaller band in the new age melodic hardcore genre with Stick To Your Guns and The Ghost Inside skyscraping over them. Both releasing huge game changing records in 2012 it was Hundredth’s turn and they changed it up a bit. The first half of their double EP release “Revolt/Resist” is a definite change up from their previous records “Let Go” and “When Will We Surrender”. Revolt starts to stray away from their huge message of hope and goes towards a more anti political message, which isn’t a huge shock in this day and age.

The opening track “Ruin” doesn’t start off sweet, it’s a clear message to how we’re destroying our planet. With one of the opening lines being “Natural justice will be served” Chadwick gives no remorse to the industrialists destroying our planet. This opening track is definitely one that will catch your attention and make you want to listen to the rest of this record. The second track “Savages” is probably my favorite of the EP. It’s centered around the action of genocide and how we as people tend to ignore the topic in most cases. “Spirits of the wicked you stack pills, they stack bodies” Chadwick screams in the chorus. There’s a break in the middle of the song which features Chadwick screaming in the back and ends with one last powerful chorus.

               

Midpoint through the EP we get to Hundredth’s new motto “Free Mind/Open Spirit” which is a quickie at less than 2 minutes long. There isn’t really a lot to talk about with this song considering it’s only one minute and forty eight seconds long and goes by extremely fast. We’re in the home stretch with the fourth track “Barren”. This song is the slowest one on the EP, it’s a mellower track but it still has that powerful Hundredth feel. “Barren will be our souls” Chadwick screams after a short break in the middle of the song. Although a slower song it’s still full of energy and passion.

                

The final track, “Euclid (Slave Song)”, which is another song that is on the slower side. Chadwick screams the opening line “We are the parasite of Earth”. All throughout the song the band chants “Swing low”. Each verse of this song has a different a message towards humanity or our planet we live on. This song is a perfect way to end this amazing EP and hopefully to the second EP in this series.

In my opinion this EP is amazing, although it’s extremely short, I was not expecting anything less from Hundredth. If you’re a fan of Hundredth you will absolutely love this EP. It definitely shows a great amount of maturity and progression in their writing style and musical abilities. If you’re a fan of melodic hardcore or any other type of hardcore music give this EP a listen when it’s released and I can assure you that’ll you will enjoy it. It’s filled with so much emotion and is definitely and will be one of my top releases of 2013 and it’s only the beginning of March.

9.5/10

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Release Date: 3/19/2013

Record Label: Mediaskare Records

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